Andrew Schwabe's Blog - Rants

iPhone 4 goodness

Mon, 09 Aug 2010 21:23:00 -0400

Well the day has come. I have an iphone 4. It has been jailbroken, and unlocked for t-mobile and other carriers. I even trimmed my old-school full size t-mobile sim card to fit in as a "micro sim." Overall, the process was not bad at all, although I did manage to play with some settings that messed up my network and had to restore from the firmware once -- such a newbie move, i know... This time around its nice and healthy :) Want to know what else my little pocket workhorse has? Flash player. Thats right. A nifty little port of the flash 10.1 for android has been hacked to run on iphone (ipad too). Its called "frash" and was an app to click and install right from cydia. Can't get any easier than that. Chew on that Apple. So far, I am very pleased with the new phone. It performs great, multitasking works surprisingly well, and even my bits of flash content work right in mobile safari. Whatever credibility Steve Jobs had left about his war on Flash, and Flash not running well on iphone hardware blah blah is all gone. The public answered and brought it anyway. Its not polished (yet), but thats only because theres just a handful of hackers releasing the software that people want while the big software companies sit in their seats of power scowling, pointing fingers and blaming each other for not meeting the consumer's needs. Why was flash such a big deal anyway? It don't NEED it to live, but on occasion I really WANT it. The last thing any techno gadget poweruser wants to be told is "you can't do what you want." Besides, how can anybody ignore technology in use by 90+% of the web? Steve Jobs can apparently, but nobody knows why. I don't understand why you don't just give customers what they want? Well anyway, I'm just happy knowing that when I need or even just want it, I've got it. Way to go flash, you finally made it home to my little iphone :) (that little unintentional rhyme is no crime, just an added bonus for the rest of us)

iPhone 4 and Jailbreaking Nonsense

Mon, 02 Aug 2010 13:24:00 -0400

Is anybody else sick of all the scammers out there trying to rip people off for jailbreaking iphones ? We've obviously received some great news lately, what with the recent legal win for jailbreaking (The Library of Congress found that jailbreaking your apple device is legal). We also got the first jailbreak application for iphone 4 on August 1 thanks to the iPhone Dev Team. What has amazed me however, is all the fake people trying to capitalize on these things. There are not just one, two or even five websites trying to get people to pay them for "exclusive" jailbreak software, but more like a hundred. It goes deep, with lame websites and fake twitter accounts of people flooding the internet with all sorts of false information. Its sickening the lengths people will go to a) screw other people, and b) steal other people's software and ideas. They are just lazy looking to make a buck off somebody else's hard work. What a shame. So for those of you out there looking to jailbreak your phone, remember that the software to do it is FREE. Never pay anybody for the software to jailbreak. Now, if you are not technically savvy, get a friend to do it, or find somebody cheap on craigslist to do it while you wait, and only pay if they do it right. For those out there not well versed in the jailbreaking terminology, here is a quick guide: An iPhone is NOT ACTIVATED if it shows the "connect to itunes" screen and won't let you do anything but an emergency call. Once you ACTIVATE the phone, you can use apps, wifi, etc. An iPhone is JAILBROKEN if it has had special software installed which allows you, the user, to install software packages from non-apple sources. The most common application to look for is called "Cydia" which is a different kind of "App Store" for jailbroken software. For other phones (like Android phones), this process is called "rooting" a phone. Its pretty much the same thing as jailbreaking. Finally, most phones are LOCKED to a certain cell phone provider. For iPhone in the US, that means your iphone is locked for use with ATT only. Once your phone is UNLOCKED, then you can put in a sim card from any GSM phone provider. In the US, that means T-Mobile, and maybe some others. Many people that travel internationally do this, because you can drop in a sim card from a phone company in another country and it will work. So to summarize, any iphone must be activated before you can do anything useful with it. An iphone CAN be activated without being jailbroken or unlocked. Likewise an iphone can be jailbroken without being unlocked, and of course they can have all three.

Apple vs the world (or "how i'm gonna get flash on my iphone anyway")

Tue, 06 Jul 2010 12:33:00 -0400

The pressure is building up on Apple. They have stated their case about how they will only support html5 on their IOS platform (ipad and iphone). Their mis-information about how all other technologies hurt the internet has had surprising impact given its pure foolishness. The best technologies the industry has seen (and the strongest companies) have always had a plan for ushering in new technology while being backwards compatible with the old. This serves many purposes -- it eases people into new technology, while supporting the old, and it generally gives longevity to infrastructure which is pretty important given the pace at which technology changes. Apple's viewpoint is very narrow minded. They have said in not so many words: "eventually in the future, we think we will all be doing it this way, so lets just pretend it is already the future, and only use that technology, anything else won't work anymore." Whether you like browser plugins or not, and whether you think they are a part of the future or not, they are a HUGE part of the internet today, and not supporting them isn't visionary -- its stupid. Apple needs to wake up from their rebellious ways, and become a team player. Their self imposed "better than thou" position in the industry will only take them so far, and will eventually cause people to start hating them. It is already starting, with iphone users defecting to use Android phones. Why? because Android is *actually* an open platform. Apple says IOS is "open", but that is just a complete lie. They are pretty far from open. The only way an ipad or iphone is "open" is if it is jailbroken. The very fact that "jail breaking" tools exist for ipad and iphone show that Apple's devices are not open, and that the technology community isn't satisfied with Apple's tight restrictions. The mentality in this community is: if we spend a couple hundred dollars of our hard earned money on a device like iphone, then let us use it however we want. Don't make it a premium price, and then handcuff us. Here is where consumer need and industry compatibility intersect and a spark is created. I've whined about not having flash on iphone for a long time. Apple says "we want 100% control over how and what you see" and the underground community has reacted by jailbreaking. What makes this even more exciting is that the iphone 4 is more powerful than previous models (although not quite up to snuff when compared to the new Android phones). It is slick and easy to use, and will make people happy if it does what we want. The underground community has once again responded, and made a commitment to hack flash to work on the iphone. You heard it right -- in fact the same people who made this commitment, have apparently already gotten it to work on ipad! I am sure this will infuriate Steve Jobs, but I honestly don't care. It is obvious that all his rules and closed mindedness are focused on bringing in more money to Apple, and NOT giving end users the core features that they want. Maybe breaking this major rule of his will make him wake up, and support it legitimately once the world proves to him that his views (and accusations) on Flash are just purely fantasy. So for me, I'll stick with iphone instead of switching to Android. The real reason is not b/c I am "sold" on Apple's device, but because I know Flash is coming :)

3 Things That Annoy Me Today: BP, Apple, and Ignorant Drivers

Wed, 02 Jun 2010 12:55:00 -0400

Its been a while since I posted a rant, hasn't it ? Keep in mind that you do NOT have to keep reading. If you do, its your choice to keep reading. Good, you are still here. #1 BP. Well, let me expand this to include the President's administration. As a US citizen, I support our President and our government, however it doesn't mean I have to like everything that goes down. I am hideously offended and annoyed that an oil leak this bad is being passed around as a "paper issue." Nobody wants to pony up and get this resolved the right way. In my opinion, significant effort should have been made from day one. BP not cutting it? Fine, bring in US Military Corp of Engineers, and send the bill to BP. For Heaven's sake, do SOMETHING other than post a webcam on the leak and say "oh my, this is pretty bad." #2 Apple. Steve is out of control. Bordering on mad man I think. The "holy war" he has waged on Flash is just school yard bullying. He is playing with the technology industry as if it were his big box of legos, and when he finds a piece that isn't a color he approves of, he discards it. Read this blog entry, about a company who had jumped through Apple's hoops to publish an ipad application. And even got several updates published. Apple called them and said they are pulling the plug on their app -- effectively wasting all that company's time and money invested into Steve's lego mansion. The best part is that Apple offers no reason, and no way to address the problem. Just a "good bye." Read here. They screwed Adobe after they spent a ton of money building iphone development tools, and now they are doing it to the small software companies. And as of May 27 of this year, Apple is now bigger than Microsoft. Remember Microsoft monopolistic bullying? and the anti-trust crap that wasted time and money, just for Microsoft to laugh and sidestep the rulings against them? Get ready for it again, as Steve Jobs decides he is the new "Emperor of Technology" and knows better than anybody else about how the world should be. If only Apple's products were crappy, like Microsoft's, then maybe we could resist... #3 Ignorant Drivers. Nothing makes a BP hating, Apple bashing day worse than irresponsible car drivers who decided that 2 years after they got their license, all turn signals are optional. I know responsible drivers who have not been in accidents that for some reason just don't think turn signals are "worth it" anymore. Maybe they haven't SAID that, but their actions speak volumes. If you drivers CARED at all for anybody else on the road but yourself, you would notice that people LOOK for your turn signals. Maybe you can save somebody stress and time by using a turn signal LIKE THE LAW SAYS YOU SHOULD, so people can actually anticipate what you already intend to do. Yes, lane changes too. NOT using them is breaking the law. As a motorcycle driver, I am often terrified to make turns or lane changes in any kind of traffic because I have no idea what people around me will do. It is more stress than a single person deserves while just driving to or from work. I try my best to use signals, and honestly, I don't know if anybody cares. All I DO know is that if I was in traffic coming toward myself, I would appreciate the proper use of signals. I'm done for today.

Netbooks, iPads and Slate Thingies, sheesh

Mon, 19 Apr 2010 18:39:00 -0400

Is it me, or is anybody else slightly annoyed at the current round of "innovation" for ultraportable computers ? There was this big hype about iPad, and when it finally came out, it lacked the absolutely critical things I need as a technology professional: 1) Flash support (duh!), 2) A camera for video conferencing, and 3) any way to use external storage, be it USB or SD, or micro SD. I myself was intrigued by the hype of tablet computing, and tried out the Lenovo S10-3t convertible tablet PC. I found it a little flimsy and clumsy, and my hope was that I could run Mac OSX on it, which failed (note: technically it does run, but none of the good hardware is supported). I was quite disappointed when I found out that Lenovo decided to install Windows 7 Starter edition on their already expensive netbook. Windows 7 has great support for tablet computers, but not in the Starter edition. So, somebody there thought "lets release a cool netbook, but lets distribute a crippled version of the OS, just to annoy people." I can't figure it out. Now we have the HP slate coming out later this year. At first glance it looks pretty decent, until you realize that it is just a plain netbook with a touchscreen and a resolution less than full 6:9 video. This is HP's chance to make it all right, but they need to take advantage of ALL the technology that is out there. Why aren't manufacturers using nVidia's ION chips ??? why wouldn't you choose to use a standard resolution screen? If HP charged a little more money but got it all right, they would have a lot of happy customers. I wonder if the slate can run OSX... hmmm Technology has advanced to a point where there are certain things people need. If manufacturers simply ignore the customers need, then once the "hype" is gone, you only have loyalty to fall back on. If you aren't careful with taking care of your people, then you will ultimately lose them. A great example is Palm Computing. I LOVED their treo phones -- the first smartphone I used, and it did everything I needed. Palm got sloppy and stopped fixing bugs, and never innovated enough on the Palm OS, until it was too late. They should have been doing the WebOS and apps thing when Apple was doing it. They waited years, and now there is no market share for them. Lots of innovation happens in the bits and pieces. I don't understand why somebody can't say, Ok, I'm going to make an ultraportable computer, and actually put in the things people want: video camera, a proper HD screen, and a video chip that will handle HD video, good battery life, and external storage? Seems like HP's slate is closest, but still not there yet.

iPad Killer? Not yet... FAIL report on lenovo s10-3t

Thu, 25 Mar 2010 12:45:00 -0400

After a few weeks of working in my spare time, here is what I managed to accomplish: 1. I could get a copy of 10.5.4 (slipstreamed for MSI wind) to install, and bluetooth worked, which I could hack to give me internet access. No Wifi, no QE/CI video, no ethernet, no touchscreen support, never bothered with sound, but supposedly it is similar to the lenovo s10-2 and should work. 2. With a custom chameleon 2 rc3 cd, i could boot and install snow leopard 10.6.0. Bluetooth worked out of the box, no wifi, native resolution 1024x600, but no QE/CI acceleration, no ethernet, no touchscreen, again, never bothered with sound. 3. Since Wifi is a deal breaker, I bought a dell 1395 WLAN 1/2 height card to drop in. No go :( The lenovo bios detected a WLAN card that it will not support, and won't boot. I've read on how you can hack the bios, or hack the rom on the WLAN card to fudge it, but yeeeshhhh.... thats not the simple $15 fix i was looking for. So after evaluating all of the above, I've decided that although the hardware is very cool (and with win7 ultimate, this is a VERY cool little machine), it just isn't ready to be made into a hackintosh. Real shame tho, i would have liked a proper mac tablet. If you like windows 7, I highly recommend this netbook. If you are holding out for mac osx, I hope it comes some day. Not looking good right now. So what is next? because I never just give up without changing my strategy... ? The HP slate looks pretty fantastic... I can't wait to see the specs on it, and see if it can be made to run mac osx. Other than that, I think I will use my iphone more :)

Lenovo S10-3t netbook hackintosh - iPad Killer?

Tue, 02 Feb 2010 12:03:00 -0400

Lenovo's netbooks have had pretty good press, but they haven't really stood out of the competition... yet. When it comes to building hackintosh netbooks, Dell's mini line has had all the press. Do a few searches, and you will see that there are numerous guides for installing mac osx 10.5 and even 10.6 on dell hardware. This may all change... [More]

iPad from Apple... thumbs up or thumbs down ? -or- Another Adobe Flash Crusade

Thu, 28 Jan 2010 15:35:00 -0400

Hmm, can anybody guess what my first question was about the new Apple tablet computer-like-device-thing ? [More]

Flash on iPhone? Not really, but kind of, sorta...

Tue, 13 Oct 2009 12:36:00 -0400

At MAX, Adobe announced a way to build apps and deploy on iPhone. Huzzah! Isn't this what we have been asking for for a LOOOONG time? Not really.... [More]

Upgrading CentOS 4 or RHEL 4 to use PHP5

Mon, 24 Aug 2009 22:40:00 -0400

This seemingly simple task was more work than I expected. Here are some of my notes in the hopes that this helps somebody. If it does, and you want to donate to my cause, or just encourage me to keep blogging about stuff like this, email me :) Ok, there are a bunch of sites out there, that helped me get 75% of the way. Download the RPMs, try to install, and error, dependancies i've never seen before. This tutorial got me 75% of the way: http://www.lampdeveloper.co.uk/linux/installing-php-525-suhosin-php-eaccelerator-on-centos-4-with-yum.html (By the way centos 4 and RHEL4 are pretty much the same, but this is focusing on the specifics for RHEL4) All said and done, here are the RPMs I ended up needing (to get to 90% success)

php-5.1.6-3.el4s1.10.i386.rpm
php-cli-5.1.6-3.el4s1.10.i386.rpm
php-common-5.1.6-3.el4s1.10.i386.rpm
php-gd-5.1.6-3.el4s1.10.i386.rpm
php-ldap-5.1.6-3.el4s1.10.i386.rpm
php-mysql-5.1.6-3.el4s1.10.i386.rpm
php-pdo-5.1.6-3.el4s1.10.i386.rpm
php-pear-1.4.11-1.el4s1.1.noarch.rpm

FYI Don't be daft and ask me for download links, if you need to know where to download these, google for it, took me all of 3 minutes. Some of them came from all over. Now when you try to install these, you get the dreaded dependancy error: Needs libmysqlclient.so.15 So i went searching, and ended up finding this gem: MySQL-shared-compat-6.0.10-0.rhel4.i386.rpm which installs multiple mysql version libraries. That did the trick, and a simple "rpm -U *.rpm" >> success cheers

Ribit: Free MP3 Site "Spiral Frog" croaks

Tue, 24 Mar 2009 13:55:00 -0400

Demonstrating the weak economy, and the weak business model of 100% advertiser sponsored services, Spiral Frog has apparently closed its doors, rather silently. Source: http://arstechnica.com/web/news/2009/03/ad-based-music-service-spiralfrog-croaks.ars Oh well, today's youths' expectations of getting everything they want for free apparently isn't realistic. In my opionion, you can expect a lot of other free service sites to struggle as the "advertising" market slows with the economy.

The best of times, the worst of times

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 16:30:00 -0400

Are we all living the American dream? Well for the 99.999999% rest of us who haven't fallen into millions of dollars (yet?), we have to work for a living -- and most of us have to work HARD for that living. The government has seen fit to "bail out" certain parts of commercial America because of what they fear could happen if common services fail. This seems logical -- if something prevents food from making it to my local grocer, then I can't get it. If the grocer's costs skyrocket, then so do mine. Logical. So, based on this premise, the money that our country is borrowing (can we all spell 'D E F I C I T' ?) should be used to *prevent* the shutdown of common services, thus retaining the proper function of the economy. Are you with me so far? So how can our government give so much money to organizations who just turn right around and blow it on luxury or entertainment items? In January it was Citigroup who decided (out of profound wisdom), to use the federal "bail out" funds to buy a $50 million jet. Have we learned our lesson? Apparently not. AIG received their "big check" from the government. What did they do with it? They turned it right around and bonused $165 million to executives at AIG. Not to working people, not to a widespread group of people that could be interpreted as "helping the economy," but to the EXECS, many of whom probably contributed to or caused the problems at AIG in the first place. The news now reports that 73 (or more) of these execs received a bonus of more than $1 million. I asked myself, "Who deserves a million dollar bonus?" You? Me? How about an executive of a company that just needed to be bailed out by the US government? In this economy, NOBODY should be giving out cash like this. Honestly, IF working class Americans get a bonus at all, a few hundred or a few thousand would make most happy. But a million? Thats more money than some people make in their whole lifetime. Obama is furious about this, as it goes directly against what he stated the money was for in the first place. Seems that the US commercial sector knows how to play the game right. Or does that mean that this "bail out" was rushed too quickly and with too few restrictions? The unfortunate reality is that the US government is borrowing money for a bail out, which is being handed over to irresponsible and undeserving people. All those people at AIG got a bonuse on borrowed money with no obligations. All this "mucking about" turns into higher taxes and debt for our children. If this matters to you, speak up about it.

Iphone firmware 2.0.2 is out! Yeah!! .... oh wait, I mean oh no!!!

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 15:59:00 -0400

Apple is beginning to worry me... I love the iPhone - it has a great combination of tools for checking email and web surfing that is surprisingly usable in a mobile package. So version 2.0.2 was supposed to address "undisclosed bugs" - some of which were supposedly the bad 3G bugs. I installed 2.0.2 on my phone, and immediately my reaction was positive (the "yeah!" part of the topic above) because everything was snappy and much more responsive than 2.0.1 -- and a world of difference over 2.0. About as quickly as my excitement came, it turned south as I noticed a great number of things that no longer worked -- and they are critical issues too. [More]

Finally, an updated blog and skin!

Sat, 02 Aug 2008 20:39:00 -0400

The last couple hours have been spent migrating data from my aging "BlogCFM" installation to my all new shiny "BlogCFC" setup. Hopefully everything translated well, and everybody will enjoy the more modern features of this setup including proper RSS feeds and del.icio.us integration etc. I've got some new Flex posts about ready, so stay tuned, and feel free to comment if you like the new site! For those interested, I found this nifty utility for exporting/importing data for BlogCFC here, and I wrote my own custom export for BlogCFM so that it exported in the format this utility expected. It went relatively painlessly... http://www.coldfusionjedi.com/index.cfm/2007/11/30/BlogCFC-ExportImport-Code

Open source routers for WAN load balancing

Sat, 19 Jul 2008 02:00:00 -0400

Get ready for acronym overload.

A while back, I write a blog entry about pfSense, and mentioned that it was a worthwhile project. Now I want to mention Vyatta, which is another open source router project. While pfSense is based on BSD and has a fancy web interface, Vyatta is based on Linux, and only has CLI (command line interface).

As a general rule the CLI is not really a huge problem for me, especially since Vyatta has a PDF reference manual outlining the different commands.
[More]